


The Face in the Looking Glass

by VictrolaDoll



Category: Alice in Wonderland (2010), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-07
Updated: 2013-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 11:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4099360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictrolaDoll/pseuds/VictrolaDoll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fall of Iracebeth, Alice returned to her own world, but this time she didn't forget the friends she had made in Underland. While the realities of her world bombard her, can she find a way to communicate with those she left behind and maybe even go back?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Face in the Looking Glass

**Author's Note:**

> So I know that I kept promising MarchMouse, and I swear that I am getting to that. It’s just that with the revelation that one of the Hares plays it mute, that has totally changed my view of them and I am re-writing. So I re-watched the Burton movie for reference and the last scene between Alice and Tarrant got my brain swirling with all sorts of Hattice and just how DOES Alice return to Underland, and WHY? So I wrote this bit in the wee hours of this morning before passing out, and here it is. I think I’ll stay on them for a bit simply because they are my oldest OTP of the group and it’s easier for me to hash out the world using them. Let me know what you think? (backdated)

_“You could stay.” He had whispered. Whispered because he worried that he might not be able to speak properly. Might not be able to stop his aching heart from choking his words._

_For a moment, one crazy mad wonderful moment, he thought that she just might say yes. That she might stay with him in his mad little world hidden away under her own. Then her smile had tugged down at the corners and he knew that she would not._

_“Be back again before you know it.” She soothed._

_Then she said that she would never forget him, and he whispered her fair fortunes. Moments later, she was gone._

Tarrant sighed at the memory of that moment. It had been almost a year in Underland since Alice turned into mist before his eyes and disappeared. Although he knew that it was not nearly so long in her world, he had still managed to decide that if she wasn’t back by now, she never would be.

((Hatter?))

Tarrant started and spun on his stool searching for the source of the familiar feminine voice. It couldn’t be!  _Could it…?_  But no. The workshop was empty save for himself and his hats.

((Hatter!))

Tarrant blinked and turned towards the circular mirror on the far wall. It’s curling metal chassis was no longer framing the reflection of his own cluttered workspace, but instead that of a young woman. Her oval face was pale, surrounded by a mass of golden hair which was parted down the middle and hung in ringlets and waves down past her shoulders and out of the frame.

“Alice!” The hatter gasped, jumping off of his stool and hurrying towards the mirror.

The young woman in the frame frowned at him and a pair of small creases appeared between her perfect, pale brows. ((Is something the matter today? You usually respond much more quickly.)) Her voice sounded far away, more like an echo than something in his direct hearing.

“Today? I mean, I- I do?” He stuttered.

((Wait…)) Alice’s face leaned in closer, squinting at the man and letting her gaze stray to his surroundings. ((Oh dear,)) she sighed, ((I’ve got the date wrong again. Underland time is ever so confusing. Goodbye, hatter. I expect you will be hearing from me soon.))

The image of Alice rippled and when the mirror’s surface stilled, it was once again, a normal mirror.

Tarrant allowed himself to blink, but could not bare to wrench his gaze from where Alice’s visage had just moments ago been frowning at him.

Had he imagined it? It seemed an odd thing to imagine. Normally when one thinks up an encounter with a beautiful lady, it is not to have calendrical errors grumbled about.  _I expect you will be hearing from me soon_ , she had said and those words rang about, echoing through Tarrant’s brain like the striking of a gong. She must, some time in the future, have found a way to communicate… and she would be using it to talk to him!

Humming a nonsensical, happy tune, The Hatter resumed his seat behind his work table. Gleeful in the knowledge that Alice did remember him, or at least would remember him.  In the meantime, he would wait, and watch. He plucked up some stray ribbons that had managed to escape their basket. And work. He stared idly at the ribbons in his hand without truly seeing them, and a grin pricked up the ends of his mouth stretching up until the corners of his eyes crinkled and his wild ginger brows rose to brush the brim of his top hat.

 _Why,_  he mused,  _is a raven like a writing desk?_

 


End file.
